1.5 million candidates to sit KCPE, KCSE

Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) CEO Paul Wasanga at a past press conference. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• Proper measures have been put in place to ensure the examinations run smoothly
• Examinations will be managed by some 55,630 contracted professionals
• The head teachers will just stamp, sign and issue the result-slips to the respective candidates

By DENNIS ODUNGA
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A total of 1.5 million candidates will sit this year’s national examinations in primary and secondary schools countrywide, the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) has said.

Some 449,246 candidates are from secondary schools while 844,475 candidates, including 906 from the Southern Sudan, are registered to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary (KCPE) examinations.

According to the Council Secretary Paul Wasanga, proper measures have been put in place to ensure the examinations set to start from October 22 to November 15, run smoothly.

He said the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations will be managed by some 55,630 contracted professionals while some 132,691 others will take care of the standard eight candidates.

The Council Secretary there is adequate security personnel, supervisors, invigilators and examiners to ensure the process is above board and they have already briefed senior security officers on procedures for managing the examinations.

He spoke at the Knec headquarters in Nairobi during the launch of the 2013 national examinations which also included the launch of the council’s Customer Relations Management System (CRM), which is meant to fast track response to customer concerns.

Mr Wasanga said the council registered candidates in large scale under the on-line registration program this year and expressed optimism that the exercise would be more successful as the education sector embraces the Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration in Education.

The Council, he said, expected schools to start registration for 2014 candidates from November this year by providing their candidates bio data online instead of waiting to do all the registration process, next year.

“Registration fees will continue to be paid between January and March of the year of examinations as has been the case before,” said Mr Wasanga.

He further said the council had designed online result slips for the 2013 KCPE and KCSE candidates and schools will only be required to print the slips from the council website, two weeks after the release of the national examinations.

“The head teachers will just stamp, sign and issue the result-slips to the respective candidates. Students with issues can raise them within six weeks after the release of the results,” Mr Wasanga said.

LAPTOP PROJECT
He added, “As an institution, we are moving the ICT way ahead of the government initiated laptop project. We shall now be releasing all the national examination results that we manage, online.”

This he observed would enhance efficiency as the waiting period would have been significantly reduced besides ensuring concerns from parents, students, and all those who manage the examinations are easily handled through the automated system.

“Members of the public can have their queries answered on time by just logging on the council’s website under a tab known as Semanasi, instead of travelling to the council offices,” he said.

Education principal Secretary, Dr Belio Kipsang’ challenged Knec to work towards a system where in future examinations would be done online as opposed to use of paperwork.

“Particularly for the KCPE questions that have multiple choices for a candidate to select, the system can generate results immediately after the time for the examination is over,” Dr Kipsang’ said.

He said continuous assessment tests would be easily monitored through the automated systems instead of relying on a one off examination to test the potential of a candidate.